San Diego Padres: 3 to blame for the disappointing series against the Arizona Diamondbacks

San Diego's starting pitching let them down this weekend

Blake Snell has been the best Padres pitcher this season and the lefty did not throw in the series and he was missed. Seth Lugo was good Friday night, working six shutout innings, allowing five hits and the bullpen behind was nearly perfect.

Other than that, it was a nightmare on the mound for the Padres starters in the biggest series of 2023.

Newly-acquired Rich Hill went five innings Thursday night and allowed three runs and five hits which, by his standards, should be considered a good start. The problem was, he had three walks and surrendered two home runs, a two-run shot to Tommy Pham, and a solo blast to Gabriel Moreno.

The two teams moved up Sunday's series final one day to Saturday because Hurricane Hilary was expected to hit the area on Sunday. Matt Waldron was called up to make the start and the right-hander allowed five runs in five innings in a 6-4 loss in Game 1. Yu Darvish didn't fare much better in Game 2, allowing nine hits and four runs in an 8-1 loss.

San Diego's pitching has been better lately, but on a weekend when they needed them to step up, it just wasn't good enough against a free-swinging Diamondbacks team.